Air-gas machine



Unire rares JAMES P. CLIFFORD, OF BROKLYN, NEW YORK. l

AIR-GAS MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257.848, dated May 16, 1882,

Application filed December 22, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES P. OLIFFORD,of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings,in the State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Air-Gas Machines, of lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to that class ot' air-gas machines,77 so termed, inwhich atmospheric air is charged or saturated with the vapor of a light hydrocarbon-such, for example, as gasoline. In such apparatus it frequently occurs that when the'tank is rst filled the air becomes charged with a proportion of the hydrocarbon vapor in excess of what is required for the productionof a high grade of illuminatinggas, which not only resultsin the waste of the hydrocarbon material, but in a smoky llame.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient and effective means of diluting the gas when thus charged to excess; and it comprises certain novel combinations ot' parts wherebyT au additional quantity of atmospheric air may be mingled with the gas as the same is passed through the conducting-pipes to- N pump, A, whichdraws the air-gasor carbureted air from the tankB and forces it to the conducting pipe or main G, in a manner well understood in the art, and therefore requiring no specific description here. The conductiu g pipe or main C connects with the usual or any suitable burners by branch pipes or connections. Motion is given tothe moving parts of the pump A by a conical drum, I), actuated by a cord or rope, E, and weight F, the cord or rope E passing over a suitable pulley or pnlleys, G, these parts also being of ordinary and well-known construction. Upon the shaft H of the drum D-that is to say, ofthe pump A-is a spur-wheel, I, which gears with another spur-wheel, J, placed upon the shaft a of a pump, K, which may be of the same construction as the pump A, but of smaller size. The inlet of thispump K connects by a pipe, L, with the outer atmosphere, as shown at b, while the outlet of said pump K connects by a (No model.)

pipe, M, with the main or conducting pipe, C. In the pipe M is a cock, c, by which the passage through the said pipe M may be throtinto a vessel filled with mercury, which serves the saine purpose.

The pump A and the gas-machine itself being put in operation in the usual manner, the movement of the drum D, which actuates the movingparts of the pump A, actuates in like manner the movingpartsof the smaller pump K, thereby causing the said smaller pump K- to draw in atmospheric air through the pipe L and expel it through the pipe Minto the conducting pipe or main C simultaneously with the ow through the latter of the air-gas or carbureted air, whereupon the air from` the pump K, mingling with the air-gas .or carbureted air from the pump A, reduces the relative portion of the hydrocarbon in thesaid airgas or carbureted air to the degree requisite in a rich but clear-burning gas, the proportion of air thus admitted to the pipe C being controlled by adjusting the valve c. When the proportion ot' hydrocarbon iu the air-gas or carbureted air drawn into the pump A from the tank B reaches or falls below the proportion required for a rich and clear-burning gas the valve c is operated to entirely close the pipe M, thereby shutting out the access of air from the pump K to the conducting pipe or main G, in which case the air propelled from the pump K is caused to pass through the branch pipe N and out into the outer atmosphere at f, the valve or mercurial seal being so adjusted as to permit this outflow of the air when the force ofthe pump K is applied to drive the air through the branch pipe N, and yet to prevent the outow through the branch pipe N when the valve c is adjusted to permit the outflow from the pump K through the pipe M to the conducting pipe or main C.

By the means described I provide a very superior means, both in efficiency and in convenience of use, for controlling the proportions of IOO hydrocarbon vapor in the air-gas or carbureted air Within the limits necessary to the production ofa rich bntclear-burning gas.

I do not claim the apparatus set forthin the English patent of James Grutchett, No. 9,416 of 1842, inasmuch as the same does not provide for the adjustment at will of the relative proportion of air to be admitted to and mingled with the gas, and could only be used in connection with a standard qualityof gas, such as is ordinarilyprodneed in gas manufactured by the distillation of coal, and is not applicable to the gas of varying quality, for which my invention is especially' designed, the carbureted air or air-gas hereinbefore referred to changing in quality as it passes to the burners, sometimes Within the space ofa few minut-es, and commonly within the space of an hour, and therefore requiring special means for insuring the introduction of the diluting-air to the gas in varyingquantities, as circumstances may require.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The co1nbination,with the pump A of an air-carbureting or air-gas machine provided 25 With the usual drum, D, of the supplemental air-pumpK, connecting actuating mechanism, an air-inlet pipe, L, connecting with the said pump K, and an air-outlet pipe, M, extending from the supplemental pump Kto the main or 3o conducting pipe C, which forms the outlet of the pump of the machine, all substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The combination of the branch pipe N, having a valve or seal at its outer end, with 35 the pipes M and L, the pump A of the machine, the supplemental pump K, connecting actuating' mechanism, and the main or conducting pipe C, the Whole arranged i'or joint use and operation, substantially as and for 4o the purpose herein set l'orth.

JAMES P. CLIFFORD.

Witnesses:

THoMAs E. GRossMAN, ROBERT W. MATTHEWS. 

